Charisma versus Character

Often when we think of a great leader we have in mind the larger than life caricatures of men and women whose lives and feats have become the stuff of legend. In the war movies of the 50’s, the political movies of the 60’s, the business movies of the 70’s and so on the great leader was someone with great charisma and presence. They were people who commanded attention, demanded respect, and inspired confidence. They were focused, vocal, direct and controlling. They were, to some extent, heroic figures that saved the day by the shear force of their own unyielding will. In the face of those caricatures many of us may well conclude that we may not have what it takes to be a great leader.

In contrast to those long-held stereotypes we have the prophetic description of Jesus:

2 For He shall grow up before Him as a tender plant,
And as a root out of dry ground.
He has no form or comeliness;
And when we see Him,
There is no beauty that we should desire Him.
3 He is despised and rejected by men,
A Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.
And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him;
He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.
(Isa 53:2-3, NKJV)

This seems to be a far cry from the commonly held view of what a great leader should look like. In fact, when Jesus came to earth He “made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men” (Phil 2:7, KJV). How does a person become a great leader like that? It is even possible in our day?

The research of both Jim Collins and Thom Rainer provides some pretty conclusive evidence that this is exactly the type of leader that it will take to move a business or a church from good to great.

Thom Rainer, who studied "breakthrough churches", employed the model used by Jim Collins, whose research was focused on the businessess that went from "good to great". Collins admits that he and his team were surprised by some of their findings. The first surprise being that the businesses which broke out of mediocrity and achieved greatness were led by people who did not fit the stereotypical ideal of a great leader. He calls them “Level 5 leaders.” In contrast to the brash, self-assured, charismatic, leaders of fiction, these leaders were found to be “self-effacing, quiet, reserved, even shy—these leaders are a paradoxical blend of personal humility and professional will” (Good to Great, pp. 12-13).

Rainer was surprised with similar findings in his study of the leadership of breakout churches. He calls these pastors “Acts 5/6 leaders.” The men (all the pastors in his study were male) who moved their church from plateau or decline, to breakthrough and growth, were leaders of character, humility, and even vulnerability. He states that these pastors were more “thin-skinned” than “thick-skinned.” Thick-skinned pastors allow criticism to bounce off without affecting them. They take congregational losses in stride and press on with little or no emotional side effect. But the Acts 5/6 leaders, the leaders of the breakthrough churches, were deeply affected by the loss of members and they were often personally wounded by criticism. The difference between these leaders and other thin-skinned leaders was that while they were wounded, they did not quit. They continued to lead and to believe that God could still use them to move the mission forward.

Collins said that one characteristic of the good to great businesses and their leaders was the willingness to apply, what he called, “the Stockdale Paradox: You must maintain unwavering faith that you can and will prevail in the end, regardless of the difficulties, AND at the same time have the discipline to confront the most brutal facts of your current reality, whatever it might be” (p. 13).

Here is where good and great leaders are separated. This is the line of division, the place where the average and the excellent are delineated. The great leaders, like Jesus, face difficulties but they neither run from them nor bulldoze their way through them. Instead, they maintain unwavering faith that they will prevail in the end. One setback is not the finish. One conflict is not the fatal. One betrayal, one denial, or abandonment in the time of greatest turmoil is not the end. Faith in the outcome, in the triumph of the vision, the mission, or the goal keeps one from quitting or giving up.

This is not, however, a denial of reality, or the inability to see and understand the challenge ahead—this is the paradox. It is the ability to keep the faith and to continue on, but it is not a bullheaded “my way or the highway” approach. It is faith in the outcome while at the same time being disciplined enough to confront the most brutal facts of your current reality, whatever it might be.

I was on staff of a large church in our denomination. I came on staff shortly after the senior pastor arrived. While I was there I was given some background information on the church by some of the longtime members. It seems the church had been growing for several years and had been through several building programs, including moving three times to the current location. The facilities were beautiful and the programs were plentiful, but in the latter years of the previous pastor’s tenure the church had plateaued and was teetering on the brink of significant decline. At the request of the church council the pastor asked for a church consultant to come in and evaluate the church. At the end of the evaluation the report indicated that there was one weak link in the chain and that was the leadership of the senior pastor.

This was the brutal fact of their reality. The pastor had been there for a number of years and had led the church through a significant building program, but beyond the building he didn’t seem to have much of a vision. He was burnt-out and lacked the energy or the will to move beyond getting the building finished. He began to question himself and he lost faith in his own ability to lead the church forward, so he resigned.

Level 5 and Acts 5/6 leaders would have faced the brutal facts, would have sought personal coaching or personal revival, would have assessed thier own weaknesses and then would have hired people--with proficiencies in the areas of those weaknesses--to come on board and work with him. But good to great leaders and breakthrough leaders do not quit. Rainer found the average tenure of breakthrough pastors was just over 21 years—many times longer than the tenure of the average pastor.

Acts 5/6 leaders are more interested in the life, success and longevity of the church than they are in personal advancement or notoriety. For them, growing a church is not a means to an end in their personal professional life, but is an end in and of itself—to the extent that this growth represents souls won into the kingdom of God. Likewise, good to great leaders are motivated by the success of the company more than by having the spotlight shone upon themselves.

You may not have great personal charisma. You may not fit the caricature of the stereotypical great leader, but you may be able to develop the characteristics that both Collins and Rainer found to be indicative of great leaders. These very characteristics are found in Christ, and His character can be perfected in us as we endeavor to become more like Him.